Christopher, 1986-

My biggest joy? Probably conversations like these, I get to know new people every day. My biggest joy is learning, too. Just learning and try to share concepts with other people, talking to them. Listening, trying to expand on what their concepts are, to grasp. . . and then trying not to lose my mind, he smiles.

“I was a good soccer player, and a soccer scout, who trained me, offered my parents to take me to Amsterdam and Munich, Germany.”

Positive childhood memories? Oh, I have so many! he smiles. I had an amazing childhood, I was the baby of the family, amazing siblings, a good mother. I would say my best experience was when I was sent to Amsterdam at 13. I was a good soccer player, and a soccer scout, who trained me, offered my parents to take me to Amsterdam and Munich, Germany. It was a great experience.

I lived there for the summer, went there by myself; that was in 2000. What I enjoyed most was all the kids. Me with a bunch of European kids, I was housed with a lot of kids from Central and South America. Argentinian, Brazilians, Venezuelans, Mexicans. I had an Italian last name and I got along best with the Argentinians because they were mostly Italians. Something about after WWII, a lot of Nazis escaped to Argentina, so there’s a strong Italian base in Argentina, and a lot of kids had Italian last names. The language barrier was difficult for the most part, but I was able to communicate. Europe is a lot different than America. They make everyone learn three or four languages in grade school. that’s not the case in America, we’re far behind on foreign language. In fact, even the kids from Argentina knew English. So yes, I think that was the best childhood experience I had.